Professor

I have acquired distinction in a program of scholarship focusing on the discovery and integration of knowledge about enhancing health and independence in vulnerable populations. My combined nursing, medicine, and computer engineering expertise uniquely positions me to use innovative technologies to improve pain and symptom management while also allowing me to incorporate into my research the biopsychosocial factors that influence health disparities. I have performed well as an independent researcher, practitioner, and scholar by obtaining numerous grant funds. As demonstrated in my CV, my research has been continuously funded since 2011, including NIH/NINR R01 study as PI (R01NR019051. Combination Therapy of Home-Based Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Mindfulness-Based Meditation for Self-Management of Clinical Pain and Symptoms in Older Adults with Knee Osteoarthritis. $2,895,747), and have produced >85 peer-reviewed publications, 2 book chapters, and > 80 scientific presentations related to biobehavioral neuroscience, health equity, population health and wellness, and informatics. My publications demonstrate the various methods I use to conduct research, including randomized clinical trials, biomarker analyses, mediation and moderation analyses, regression modeling, Bayesian modeling, quasi-experimental designs, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses. My excellence in research and scholarship has been recognized via invitations to serve on numerous grant review panels for the National Institute on Health, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs (chair), and grant director for the Southern Nursing Research Society. I also serve on the editorial boards for multiple journals, including Asian/pacific island nursing journal (Editor-In-Chief).

Dr. Liechty is internationally recognized for his clinical care in fetal medicine and his research in wound healing and regeneration. His laboratory, which has been continuously funded for the last 18 years, is the source of many patents and two companies. He has trained numerous medical students, residents and fellows who have gone on to academic surgical positions. Dr. Kenneth Liechty’s research has been focused primarily in the field of wound healing, the response to injury, and regenerative medicine, with an emphasis on elucidating the mechanisms involved in the regenerative response to injury in the fetus, the role of inflammation and oxidative stress in tissue repair, and the correction of abnormal healing in the adult. Dr. Liechty’s research team has pioneered the role of dysregulated microRNAs in the diabetic wound healing impairment, and the mechanisms of the correction of this wound healing impairment with stem cell and gene therapy. The Liechty research team is developing novel treatment paradigms using small molecule therapeutics including the microRNA conjugated nanoparticles, as well as stem cells and gene therapy strategies to promote healing and tissue regeneration in multiple tissues by modulating the inflammatory response, angiogenesis, the composition of the extracellular matrix, macrophage polarization, and progenitor cell content. Dr. Liechty’s research team has also developed and published the first report of mammalian cardiac regeneration in a large animal model following in utero myocardial infarction and has contributed significantly to the understanding of regenerative healing in the heart, skin and tendon, and the correction of impaired healing in diabetics. The goal of Dr Liechty’s research approach in regenerative medicine is to restore normal tissue architecture and function and to prevent the complications of impaired healing or scar formation after injury.

Taben Hale, Ph.D. is a tenured Professor of Basic Medical Sciences at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix (UA COM-P). Dr. Hale obtained her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON, Canada, followed by a Postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Montreal in Montreal, QC, Canada. Dr. Hale was recruited, as one of the founding faculty, to the UA COM-P in 2008. Research in the Hale laboratory investigates the early drivers and long-term consequences of hypertension. Specifically, she leads two research programs. The first examines the impact of prenatal stressors on the autonomic nervous system regulation of blood pressure and heart function in the adult offspring. Autonomic nervous system dysregulation is known to be an important risk factor for future heart disease and is also evident in individuals with major depressive and anxiety disorders. The second research program is focused identifying novel therapeutic targets to reverse the heart disease risk in the setting of long-standing hypertension. Specifically, her lab investigates mechanisms to target the cells that regulate the scar tissue formation that increases during hypertension, leading to declining heart function. Dr. Hale’s research program has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. Dr. Hale is also a member of the Translational Cardiovascular Research Center (UA COM-P), The Sarver Heart Center (UA COM-T), as well as the Clinical Translational Sciences graduate program. She currently serves as the Director and was a co-founder of the UA COM-P Women in Medicine and Sciences within the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.